Associate Professor Brian Lyons discussed how credit scores affect job applicants in an interview with “The Current.”
Brian Lyons, associate professor of management in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, participated in an interview titled, “Credit checks to screen job applicants commonplace in Canada.”
The interview’s description reads:
“You may still be able to buy a used car with bad credit. But what about landing a job? A job that could even help you pay down your debt. It turns out certain employers are turning away job applicants with bad credit. And some say that’s a big problem.”
Lyons discussed how research he conducted concluded that there is a correlation between financial history and deviant workplace behavior, including stealing or taking bribes, even though that correlation isn’t necessarily strong. His research is published in the article “The Relationship Between Financial History and Counterproductive Work Behavior.”
The article’s abstract reads:
“To reduce employee counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs), organizations may choose to utilize a financial history (FH) instrument during the selection process. To date, no published empirical research has attempted to determine the validity of such a practice. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to determine if employees with FH concerns, which were identified during the selection process and their 5-year subsequent reinvestigation, were more likely to engage in CWBs, which were objectively measured through an examination of misconduct cases. Results from a random sample of 2519 employees indicated that those with FH concerns were significantly more likely to engage in CWBs than those without FH concerns. Implications to research and practice are discussed.”
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